Welcome to Battle Ground History

Welcome everyone to my new podcast, Battle Ground History. For 9 1/2 years I was the host of Russian Rulers podcast then renamed Russian History Retold. Now, I’m happy to begin my new journey which is kind of like an NCAA basketball tournament just with historical events and people instead of teams.

The hard part, after figuring out what the brackets would be, is picking the contestants. The brackets include Leaders, Military, Rebels, Rogues and Scholars, Villains, Famous Battles and Events. People like Alexander the Great in the Military and Ivan the Terrible in the Villains category were easy, others were a little tougher. I spent about two months doing research before the first script was written.

In the basketball tournament, teams are seeded from the best facing off against the weakest teams with the occasional upset. I didn’t think that would work so I randomized each bracket which led to some pretty interesting first-round matchups. As I look at the battles, some of them are absolutely fascinating with no clear winner right off the top.

Here are a few of my favorites from the Leader, Military and Villains brackets (I’ll include my other favorites in my next post:

From the Leaders Bracket:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt vs Louis XIV (Episode #19)
• Selim I vs Abraham Lincoln (Episode #43)
• Queen Victoria vs Constantine the Great

From the Military Bracket:

• Douglas MacArthur vs Dwight D. Eisenhower (Episode #14)
• Julius Caesar vs John Churchill (Episode #50)
• Tamerlane vs Fredrick the Great

From the Villains Bracket:

• Vladimir Lenin vs Emperor Nero (Episode #24)
• Vlad Dracul vs Heinrich Himmler
• Attila the Hun vs Osama bin Laden

In my next post, I’ll include my favorite battles for the Rebels, Rogues and Scholars bracket as well as Military Battles and Events of History.

One of the other things I will be doing here at my blog site is sharing maps, pictures, videos and other content to enrich your listening experience. I will also be looking for feedback on how the podcast is doing and whether you agree with my scoring or not.

#History #historical #blog #historyblog